Village website. "Baroque treasures" of the Slánsko area include the Church of the Assumption rebuilt in the 18th century and the former hospital (now home to the Memorial of Antonín Dvořák with a concert hall). Dvořák wrote The Zlonice Bells Symphony after taking lessons with a local teacher. The oldest primeval settlement of the Zlonice land register is proven by the archaeological discovery of a burial ground with bent skeletons of the Únětice culture.Emperor Joseph I promoted his royal property, the village, to a townlet. The Baroque Church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary is architecturally dominant in Zlonice, visible when entering Zlonice on the right hand side of the road. The railway museum in the village focuses on the period prior to 1939. The Jewish cemetery is located to the south. As the Jews could not live in Slaný in the Middle Ages due to the Magdeburg Law, the first Jewish settlements around Slaný were in Zlonice at the end of the 16th century making the local Jewish Community was one of the oldest in Bohemia. From Zlonice, the road leading back to Slaný passes the cemetery and the villages of Bakov and Želevčice. This market town is located 6 km north of Slaný with a population of 2,279 (2006). [February 2009]
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [November 2017]
US Commission No. CZCE000420
Alternate German names: Slonitz and Zlonitz. Located in Bohemia, Kladno at 50º17 14º06, 15 km N of Kladno and 31 km NW of center of Praha. Cemetery: 600 m SSE of chateau. Present town population is 1,000 to 5,000 with no Jews.
- Town: Obecni urad, 273 71 Zlonice; tel. 0314/911-23. Mayor: Engineer Fratisek Naprstek; tel. office 0314/911-01.
- Regional: Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, namesti 17.listopadu 2840 272 01 Kladno; tel. 0312/6741; Zidovska Nabozenska Obec v Praze, Maislova 18, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-69-25; and Pamatkovy ustav, Ceskomoravska 21, 190 00 Praha 9; tel. 02/853-66-20.
- Interested: Vlastivedne Muzeum, namesti 9 Kvetna 159, 274 01 Slany; tel. 0314/2209; Local historian, Marie Hodkova, Husova 300, 273 71 Zlonice; Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34 or 231-07-85; and Okresni Muzeum, zamek, 272 01 Kladno; tel. 0312/3758.
- Caretaker is Ladislav Holub, Havlickova, 79 273 71 Zlonice
A prayer room existed before 1747. The Jewish cemetery was recorded in 1703 but is probably older. 1930 Jewish population was 10. A scanty community with prayer room recorded in first half of 18th century. Independent congregation of 10 [about 20 families] in surrounding villages established in 1831. The independent congregation disbanded in 1870 with last known Conservative burial in cemetery in 1942. Slany (German: Schlan) , 5 km away, used this landmarked cemetery before 1880. The rural (agricultural) flat land of a hillside, separate but near other cemeteries, has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a broken masonry wall without gate. The size of the cemetery before World War II and now is 0.1709 ha.
20-100 stones, in original locations and 50-75% toppled or broken, date from first half of 18th century. The granite and sandstone flat shaped and inscribed stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decorations or multi-stone monuments have Hebrew, German and Czech inscriptions. Some have metal fences around graves. Cemetery contains no known mass graves, but has a pre-burial house. Praha Jewish community owns the property used for Jewish cemetery. Properties adjacent are agricultural and a municipal urn grove. Occasionally, private visitors and local residents stop. Vandalized occasionally, local municipal authorities and Jewish groups within the country cleared vegetation periodically and built a new fence. Jewish Congregation of Praha pays the caretaker. Serious threat: uncontrolled access and vandalism. Slight threat from weather erosion and pollution.
Vlastmila Hamackova, Zabelska 37, Engineer Mojmir Maly, Ve Stresovickach 58, 169 00 Praha 6; tel. 02/35-57-69 and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on 29 August 1992. Documentation: Die Juden und Judengemeinden Bohemens (1934), Pamatnik Zlonic (1905), Podripsky kraj, I (1934), VI (1941) and 1984 letter of historian M. Hodkova. Maly visited in 1992.